Kit Davies
Evidence that wild fish are being infected by sea lice from farmed salmon has been presented to a conference in Denmark.
The evidence was contained in a Fisheries Research Services paper delivered at the International Council for the Exploration of the Seas conference.
Between 1999 and spring this year, scientists found large numbers of sea lice near the mouth of the River Shieldaig in the Western Highlands, where young trout emerge into the sea. The study indicated the parasites came from cages.
Scottish Quality Salmon was quick to issue a statement defending salmon farmers. Chief executive, Brian Simpson said: "This paper reports on a snapshot in time in a relatively small area of Scotland's west coast and does not reflect the current, more positive situation.
"Since the paper's data were complied, an area management group has been formed between wild fish interests and Scottish Quality Salmon members to determine the best way forward for all interests."
Conservation groups say wild salmon have declined by two-thirds in the past 30 years, and are increasingly susceptible to impacts from industry. They claim the rapid growth of salmon farming is one of the main threats to the wild fish.
The Atlantic Salmon Federation, Greenpeace and WWF, want fish-farming free zones to protect rivers and bays. They also want commercial wild salmon fisheries on migratory feeding grounds in the Faroes and West Greenland to close.
Meanwhile a nationwide protest against farmed salmon practices is also being planned by the Farm Salmon Protest Group, headed by campaigner Bruce Sandison.
The group will distribute posters outside UK supermarkets explaining to shoppers why, in the view of lobbyists, they should not buy farm salmon. Two hundred supermarkets in more than 60 UK cities and towns will be targeted between 11am and noon on October 26.
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Evidence that wild fish are being infected by sea lice from farmed salmon has been presented to a conference in Denmark.
The evidence was contained in a Fisheries Research Services paper delivered at the International Council for the Exploration of the Seas conference.
Between 1999 and spring this year, scientists found large numbers of sea lice near the mouth of the River Shieldaig in the Western Highlands, where young trout emerge into the sea. The study indicated the parasites came from cages.
Scottish Quality Salmon was quick to issue a statement defending salmon farmers. Chief executive, Brian Simpson said: "This paper reports on a snapshot in time in a relatively small area of Scotland's west coast and does not reflect the current, more positive situation.
"Since the paper's data were complied, an area management group has been formed between wild fish interests and Scottish Quality Salmon members to determine the best way forward for all interests."
Conservation groups say wild salmon have declined by two-thirds in the past 30 years, and are increasingly susceptible to impacts from industry. They claim the rapid growth of salmon farming is one of the main threats to the wild fish.
The Atlantic Salmon Federation, Greenpeace and WWF, want fish-farming free zones to protect rivers and bays. They also want commercial wild salmon fisheries on migratory feeding grounds in the Faroes and West Greenland to close.
Meanwhile a nationwide protest against farmed salmon practices is also being planned by the Farm Salmon Protest Group, headed by campaigner Bruce Sandison.
The group will distribute posters outside UK supermarkets explaining to shoppers why, in the view of lobbyists, they should not buy farm salmon. Two hundred supermarkets in more than 60 UK cities and towns will be targeted between 11am and noon on October 26.
{{MARKET EDGE }}
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